"Olden times and ancient rhymes of love and dreams to share."
On Dec. 9, 1965, at 7:30 p.m., television sets around the country - including a black-and-white Zenith with a beige cabinet in Vineland -- were tuned to CBS; families were curious to watch a new special, "A Charlie Brown Christmas."
The program remains entertaining and powerful more than 50 years later. Here, thanks to mentalfloss.com, TV Guide, thefw.com and IMDB, are some obscure facts about the iconic holiday show.
Merry Christmas from the Hatala children on Chimes Terrace in 1962 ... wait, what's up with the eyes? * We're all familiar with Vince Guaraldi's jazz soundtrack for the show; it's become one of the most identifiable musical links to the holiday season. I've heard a myth that Guaraldi's music would have been forbidden, save for Charles Schulz stepping up and stating something to the effect of "It's Vince's music or no show." Actually, Schulz left the music decisions to director Lee Mendelson.
* Schulz was instrumental in going against the long-standing tradition of hiring adult voice actors to perform children's roles in animated movies and TV shows. According to thefw.com, "Schulz wanted to bring believable voices to the characters, so the producers cast professional child actors for the roles of Charlie Brown, Linus and Lucy since they were required to recite most of the dialogue." Kathy Steinberg, the voice of Sally Brown, had not yet learned to read at the time of the production and had to be "fed" her lines a word or syllable at a time.
MORE: Vintage photos around New Jersey
* The broadcast was sponsored by Coca Cola, and believe it or not, there was serious consideration to have a scene with one of the characters drinking the beverage. No characters drank soda in the special, however, the first airing featured an opening scene in which Linus crashes head-on into a sign advertising Coca-Cola. The scene was cut due to expired advertising contracts and the sign was replaced with one that read "Danger."
And some more trivia tidbits:
* In the first show's credits, Charles Schulz's had a "t" added to his last name; none of the children who voiced the characters received credits at the end.
* Lucy refers to Charlie Brown as "Charlie" in one scene about the commercialization of Christmas; it's the only time -- in print or subsequent specials -- she refers to him as anything but "Charlie Brown."
* Snoopy's dog house is blue; in all subsequent specials, it's red.
* "A Charlie Brown Christmas" pre-empted an episode of "The Munsters" and, fortunately, pulled a 50 share in the Nielsen ratings (second only to "Bonanza") or it likely would never have aired again.
Merry Christmas! Enjoy this gallery of Christmas photos, as well as these galleries from Christmases past.
Vintage photos of celebrating Christmas in N.J.
More Vintage photos of celebrating the holidays in N.J.
Vintage photos of celebrating the holidays in N.J.
Greg Hatala may be reached at ghatala@starledger.com. Follow him on Twitter @GregHatala. Find Greg Hatala on Facebook.